ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Nalia Radio and Television (NRT) was scheduled to broadcast an interview with the imprisoned New Generation Movement (NGM) leader Shaswar Abdulwahid on Sunday before purportedly being prevented from doing so by unknown actors.

A source told The New Region that a man in civilian clothes carrying an interior ministry ID visited the NRT building and told them they were not allowed to broadcast the interview. 

Peshawa Hawramani, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), denied the involvement of any interior ministry personnel, telling The New Region that the actors in question “have no connection whatsoever to the KRG.”

Rumors circulated Sunday of forces being deployed to the NRT building, but The New Region’s correspondent on site saw no such presence. Sarkawt Mohammed, spokesperson for Sulaimani Police, also said that “no forces have been deployed or seen around NRT.” 

The Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy on Sunday criticized the reported censorship of the interview, saying that it is unjust that “women killers [and] child killers ... have had cameras brought into prison and interviews conducted with them,” but NRT is threatened to be “shut down” for seeking to interview Abdulwahid.

NRT was founded by Abdulwahid, who was arrested by Sulaimani Police on August 12 and is currently serving a five-month prison sentence under Article 431 of the Iraqi Penal Code, which states, “Whoever threatens another with committing a felony against himself or his property, or against the person or property of another, or with attributing or disclosing dishonorable matters in cases other than those specified in Article 430, shall be punished by detention.”

Abdulwahid's detention is related to a 2019 lawsuit by a former lawmaker of his party, who accused him of threatening to publish explicit images of her.

Shaswar’s interview was reportedly recorded over the phone and comes ahead of Iraq’s parliamentary elections on November 11. The alleged disruptors of the broadcast had told NRT that the image and voice of a convicted person cannot be used for any purpose.

The KRG's Ministry of Finance and Economy in late August announced the seizure of 60 properties under two companies belonging to detained Abdulwahid, come after the entities had accumulated nearly 92 billion dinars (64.5 million US dollars) in government debt, according to the ministry.